


Broken Bones

by Fuinixe



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [16]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Broken Bones, Gen, Gen Work, Injury, Kid Fic, Nile Freeman Whump, Nile Freeman does not have nuanced opinions of the US military because Nile Freeman is 11 years old, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:08:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29505288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuinixe/pseuds/Fuinixe
Summary: The first time Nile Freeman breaks a bone is on her elementary school playground in the South Side of Chicago.
Relationships: Nile Freeman & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2143242
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	Broken Bones

It was Wednesday, which meant it was Girl Scouts day, and Nile was excited.

Wednesday afternoons were practically the only time she got to see Tasha, since Tasha was in Mr. Fairchild’s 5th grade class this year and Nile was in Ms. Rodriguez’s class, and they didn’t even have the same recess period.

The meetings themselves were a little hit-or-miss; mostly they did something fun, like arts and crafts, or played games, but sometimes Miss Jackson hadn’t prepared an activity ahead of time and then it could get a little boring. 

The end of day bell rang. Nile pulled on her coat and backpack and rushed (but not ran!) to the second graders’ hallway. A gaggle of kindergartners crossed paths with her, and she spotted her brother’s friend Ian at the same time he saw her. 

“Hi Nile!” he said, waving frantically. 

“Hi Ian!” she answered with a smile. Jerome’s friends were annoying, sure, but it wasn’t their fault they were like that. They were just little kids. Little kids who liked to follow her around everywhere. “Where’s Jerome?”

“He’s in the bathroom. Aren’t you coming on the bus with us?” His friends were moving ahead of him towards the main entrance, through which Nile could catch a glimpse of one of dozens of bright yellow buses, idling. 

“No, it’s Wednesday, remember?”

“Oh yeah.” Ian perked up. “Can I come?” 

She laughed. “To Girl Scouts? No!” She heard squeaking sneakers approaching behind her rapidly, and had just enough time to shift her feet and brace herself before _somebody_ threw himself onto her back, nearly knocking her over, and wrapped his arms around her throat.

“Jerome! Get off!” She wormed her hands under his forearms and pulled them away from her throat. “You’re choking me!” 

Jerome dropped to the tile floor and, instead of apologizing, grabbed her elbow and started dragging her towards the main entrance, launching into a story about something that had happened that day--something about a Pokemon toy? She dug her heels in and shook him off. “I have to go, I’m gonna be late for Scouts.” 

Thankfully, rather than arguing, Jerome just responded “‘Kay! Bye!” and walked off with Ian, chattering.

Nile rubbed her throat and adjusted the straps on her backpack, which had shifted uncomfortably under Jerome’s assault. Liz and Katie were coming down the hallway, also headed to Scouts, and she fell in with them, listening to their hushed conversation about Katie’s crush. Nile didn’t comment. She felt bad for fourth grade girls, since they had to have crushes on fourth grade boys, who were totally stupid.

The familiar smell of bleach and stale french fries wafted to Nile’s nose as they approached the cafeteria. One of the doors was propped open and all but two tables were folded up against the walls so the floors could be mopped later. Tasha was sitting on one of the benches, reading, Miss Jackson pulling something out of a tote bag beside her. Tasha jumped out of her chair when she saw her friends and ran straight for Nile, braid beads clacking behind her. 

They hugged really tight, each squeezing the other as hard as they could, until Tasha let out a little wheezing breath and Nile relented. 

“What are we doing today, Miss Jackson?” Liz asked, eyeing the contents of the tote bag with interest.

“I brought a learning game for us to play, but we need at least six. Are Destiny and Kayla coming?”

Nile shook her head. “Destiny isn’t. She wasn’t at school today.” 

“Kayla told me she had to go home early,” Tasha piped up.

“Oh dear,” Miss Jackson murmured. “Well…”

“Let’s go outside!” Nile suggested. “It was really warm today!”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Tasha added eagerly, bouncing up and down.

“Is everybody okay with that? A nice lazy playground meeting?” Miss Jackson asked, directing the question at Liz and Katie. They glanced at each other and nodded. “Alright, help me fold these tables up and we’ll head out.”

The parts of the playground that still had sun shining on them _were_ pretty warm, especially in their coats, and they could just run really fast through the parts that were in shadow. She played tag with her friends for a bit, screeching and laughing. She lurked under the bridge, hiding, and then grabbed Katie’s ankle as she ran by, making her scream in terror. “You’re it!” Nile shouted, and ran away.

When she was tired from running, Nile climbed up on the parallel gymnastics bars and balanced on one, swinging her feet. She only had to wait about 30 seconds before Tasha boosted herself up and joined her. 

“Your dad’s coming home soon, right?”

Nile bobbed her head enthusiastically. “Just one more month, as of today.”

“Are you excited?”

“Yeah, _so_ excited.”

“Is your mom excited?”

“Totally. We’ve been talking about all the things we wanna do together when he gets back.”

“Do you think he’s going to bring you presents?”

Nile laughed. “From Afghanistan? I don’t think it’s that kind of trip. It’s not, like, Paris. When someone’s in Afghanistan, you send _them_ presents, not the other way around.”

“They don’t have any stores in Afghanistan?” Tasha asked, semi-jokingly. 

“I don’t know! Probably! Maybe!”

“What about, like...souvenir shops at the Army base?”

“Tasha!” Nile exclaimed in outrage, swivelling her head to glare at her friend. “He is _not_ in the Army! He’s a Marine!”

“Oh yeah! Sorry. What is the difference, again?”

Nile blustered. She wasn’t completely sure, but she knew there was a big difference. “The Army is like, _lame_. But Marines are super cool.”

“What’s so cool about them?” Tasha prodded.

“They’re just better, okay? Stronger and faster and stuff.”

Tasha laughed. “Like Superman?”

“No, not like _Superman_ ,” Nile answered, scoffing. “Obviously.”

Tasha shivered and hitched her shoulders up, pulling her head down lower into the warmth of her jacket. “It’s cold.”

It was true. The sun had set enough that the gymnastics bars were now in the shady section of the playground, but Nile hadn’t practiced her flips yet. She flexed her fingers on the bar. They were starting to go numb, heat seeping out into the icy metal. She slid right a little so she could tuck her ankle around the vertical bar for better balance and wormed her gloves out of her pockets. It would be harder to grip with these on, but if she didn’t put them on, her hands would go numb anyways. And besides, she’d gotten really good at flips lately.

“You should go sit in the sun, I’ll be right there. I gotta practice my flips.”

Tasha let herself drop to the wood chips and pulled up her hood. “Don’t crack your head open!”

“Tasha! Don’t jinx me!” Nile slid to the center of the bar, still warm from Tasha’s butt. She hoisted herself up on straight arms and folded one knee over the bar, tucking the other leg behind it, and threw herself forward, spinning around it until she was back in her original position on top. She loved that feeling of whirling through the air and coming up fast. There, that was one. Now for a double spin. 

She propelled herself forward--gloves slipped--threw her arm out by instinct--THUD. It happened too fast to track, but suddenly she was on the ground in an undignified heap, wood chips grinding into her face, tears springing to her eyes. “Ow,” she groaned. 

“Nile!” she heard Tasha shout, then footsteps running towards her. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” Nile answered, in a daze. She tried to prop herself up, but a sharp pain shot through her arm. “Crap! Ow!”

“Do you want me to get Miss Jackson?”

“Y-yeah.” This was so embarrassing. She was supposed to be good at the gymnastics bars! Why had she put her gloves on?! What a dumb idea. And now she was probably going to have to leave Girl Scouts early! And her mom would have to come get her!

Miss Jackson was there moments later. “Hey honey, you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”

“Yeah…” Nile answered, hearing her own voice wobble. Her throat had started burning. Her head hurt really bad.

“I’m gonna look you over, okay?” Miss Jackson came up behind her and helped Nile sit up without putting any weight on her arm, then came around to look her in the eyes. “What year is it?” she joked.

“It’s two-thousand-four,” Nile answered, smiling a little. 

“And your name is?”

“Nile Mariah Freeman.”

“No brain damage! That’s great news.” Miss Jackson smiled at her. “What hurts the most?”

“My head and--” Nile flexed her fingers and hissed. “My arm.”

“This one?” Miss Jackson asked, pointing. Liz and Kayla had come over and were now asking Tasha what had happened.

“Yeah, my right one.”

“Oh no, not the drawing hand!” Miss Jackson said, sympathetically, and Nile winced. 

“Yeah.” A tear slid down her face. 

“Can you move it?”

Nile wiggled her fingers and froze in pain. “Yeah, but it hurts _really_ bad.” She started crying in earnest. 

“Okay, it’s okay honey. Don’t move them. I’m gonna call your mom, okay?”

“Okay,” Nile sniffled.

Miss Jackson had a cell phone with a little dangly cat charm hanging off of it. She flipped it open and pressed some buttons. Nile could hear it ring. “Hello, Mrs. Freeman? Yeah, hi, it’s Miss Jackson. Hi. No, not exactly. Nile’s safe, but I think she broke her arm.”

Nile started. A broken bone? She’d never had one of those before. Did that mean she’d get one of those neon casts that all her friends could draw on? And she bet when her dad saw it, he’d call her _brave_ and _daring._

That wouldn’t be so bad.

**Author's Note:**

> This is completely unlike any other fic I have written.


End file.
